Cancun, a scenic beach resort in Mexico, has been attracting worldwide attention since the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference opened here last Monday to find solutions to climate change.

Since then, participants from both developed and developing countries have voiced their opinions on responsibility and obligations regarding carbon reduction, a highly controversial issue.

A cause for concern is that some developed countries have denied the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" defined in the Kyoto Protocol.

Jun Arima, deputy director-general for environmental affairs at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said at the conference that "Japan will not inscribe its target under the Kyoto Protocol on any conditions or under any circumstances."

No one knows if the differences can be resolved at the Cancun conference, which is scheduled to close on Friday. Such differences continue to exist even after participating countries have been discussing them since the UN Conference on Environment and Development was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

It's hard to say whether the Cancun Climate Change Conference will be a success. Negotiations will continue, and positive results will be achieved no matter how long they will take and how many difficulties the years ahead will bring. In fact, there have been many difficult negotiations in history not unlike the ongoing Cancun Climate Change Conference.

Last week also saw the resumption of the Doha Development Round negotiations. The WTO Trade Negotiations Committee met in Geneva last Tuesday and discussed ways to push forward the Doha Development Round negotiations.

Since the Doha Development Round started negotiations in 2001, nine years have elapsed without concrete results. However, leaders of major economies attending the Group of 20 summit in Seoul, South Korea, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Yokohama, Japan, in November announced that the year 2011 could be "the best time" to engage in across-the-board negotiations to promptly bring the Doha Development Round to a conclusion.

Although "the best time" is not legally binding, it is encouraging that the international community has finally realized the urgency of further accelerating the process of Doha Development Round negotiations after the global financial and economic crisis. Such common acknowledgement is indispensable to worldwide cooperation.

Last week, the European Union (EU) celebrated the first anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty's becoming effective. Since the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957, European integration has been a goal for 53 years, during which Europe, once the setting of two world wars, has become a peaceful and stable continent.

Although there have been setbacks in the process of European integration and the EU is currently facing a debt crisis in Greece and Ireland, the EU can pride itself on ranking first worldwide in combined gross domestic product, foreign trade and investments.

There is a story in the Bible about how the human race used to speak one common language and wanted to build a tower to reach the heavens for their own glory. To prevent mankind from building such a tower out of their pride, God made humans speak different languages. Because of the communication problem, they were unable to finish their well-planned work.

In today's age of globalization, language is no longer the problem. The challenge at global gatherings such as the one taking place in Cancun is how to reconcile the different interests between different countries and different peoples.

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